Little Mermaid Maxie
by angelofdarkness78
Summary: Third part of the Fairy Tales series. The Little Mermaid... Dark Angel style. Plz R
1. Prince Zack

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing. Everyone belongs to the guy with the sunken ship and the other guy.

A/N: This is the third installment of the Fairy Tales series. I really hope you like it. Plz review and if you have time, check out the other stories in this series. If you have lots of time, check out my other stories, I'm sure you'll like them. This will be written twice, the first time MZ and the second time MA. It will be overall the same thing twice, except that certain parts will be different because of the character. For example, the MA one will be a little more witty and sarcastic because of Alec. So some parts will be changed. Okay, happy reading. Plz review!

* * *

Once upon a time, there were 7 mermaid princesses, living in their palace under the sea with their father, King Lydecker, who despite his bad temper and mean habits, loved his daughters dearly.

Princess Syl was very bubbly and tried to make a good time out of everything. She loved reading in her coral bed, but she'd always put aside her books to spend time with the handsome Prince Krit of the Pacific.

Princess Brin was very quiet and kept to herself. She focused mainly on improving her knowledge of the sea she lived in, and how to brave the dangers in it.

Princess Tinga was known to be very motherly to everyone, treating everyone equally with kindness and respect. She took care of her sisters and guarded them.

Princess Eva was known to be one of the toughest mermaids in the sea. Despite her reputation to be stern, there were rare moments when she let herself go and relax, though her attitude could change drastically when protecting her sisters.

Princess Jace was very observing and liked to get to know people, not always because she wanted to be friends with them, but because she wanted to be able to know how to handle them if the need should arise.

Princess Jondy had a temper as fiery as her red hair, and a mischievous personality to go along with it. She loved pulling pranks and antagonizing people, especially with her youngest sister.

Princess Max, whom her sisters called Maxie, was very much like her sister Jondy. She had sass, an attitude, and a sense of humour that had people roaring with laughter. But unlike the others, she had a craving to know what the world above the sea was like. She wanted to know what they did, and why they did it, why they had two legs in replace of fins. She ventured in sunken ships, searching for items from the world she could never live in. She made sure to keep her little expeditions from her father though, for she knew that he'd be furious if he ever found out. Only with her best friend, the fish Sketchy, did she ever share her findings.

That was what she and Sketchy were doing now. Or more correctly, she was swimming around in a ship, inspecting every nook and cranny for something that she might find interesting, while Sketchy shivered (if fish could shiver) in fear as he waited in front of the ship. On the lookout for… sharks.

"Uh… Max? Could we uh… go?" Sketchy stuttered. "I don't really think we should be here. I mean… it's cold, and dark, and a… argh! Argh! Shark!"

He turned around and shoved himself through a hole in the ship, swimming like crazy towards Max while a humongous shark crashed through the ship after him.

"Shark!" he yelled. "Shark on the loose! Shark on the loose! Oh, this is it. I'm gonna die. I'm never gonna make it to my job interview at Jam Pony water express," he sobbed.

Max looked up, seeing Sketchy racing at her at top speed with a crazed look on his face, a hungry-looking shark trailing not far behind. She shoved what she had found – a strange-looking rectangular thing – into her bag and quickly swam up the ship, motioning for Sketchy to follow her. He did so, and after a while of being chased through the ship, they burst out into the open sea and swam upwards.

Sketchy looked himself over, making sure all his fins were intact, then he relaxed.

"Ha!" he said. "That was fun! I mean, that stupid shark never stood a chance. I probably could've taken him on. No biggie. I might've gone down defending your honour… eventually."

Max rolled her eyes but said nothing as they broke the surface to see their friend the dog, Joshua. Joshua had been stranded at sea a long time ago but had found himself on this little piece of land and made it his home. He was quite content where he was considering he was kind of an oddball.

"Hey Max," he said in greeting. "Sketchy."

"Josh, you think you could tell me what this is?" Max asked excitedly. She pulled out the article she had found in the ship and he took it in his dog paws.

"Hmm," he said, and scratched his head, from pondering or from fleas she wasn't sure. "Looks like this is what the humans call a cellyphone. See these little buttons here? They're used to play music. Listen."

He pressed a bunch of buttons and beeping noises were made.

"Crummy song," Joshua muttered.

Max winced. "Music," she said. "I completely forgot about daddy's birthday concert!"

She quickly grabbed the cellyphone from Joshua's paws and with a quick thanks, she dove down, the water rippling as she left.

* * *

King Lydecker sat on his throne with his royal crab advisor, Ames, pacing back and forth, muttering something about killing the stupid impulsive princess when she got back. Finally, Princess Max swam into her father's chamber with Sketchy, both their heads down.

"Where have you been?" King Lydecker shouted, outraged.

"I'm sorry I forgot about the concert, father," Max murmured.

"Forgot? You forgot? Your own daddy's birthday? Am I not important enough to you for you to remember my birthday? I mean, it's my birthday! _My_ birthday! The King's – "

"I think she gets the point, Sire," Ames said.

The King toned down the conceitedness a little. "Right. Well, I'm disappointed in you for forgetting my birthday. Anyways, where have you been while forgetting my birthday?"

_If he says 'my birthday' one more time I'm gonna kick his fishy blue ass!_ Max thought. _What am I supposed to say though? I can't let him know I've been up to the surface._

Unfortunately for her Sketchy, without thinking, decided to tell their little adventure. Right from the shark attack until they decided to go see the stranded dog, Joshua. At that, Lydecker's eyes grew wide.

"Stranded dog?" he asked in an infuriated little whisper. "Dog, as in an animal that lives up in the HUMAN WORLD?" His voice raised at the end.

Max quickly glared at Sketchy, mentally promising that she would show him just how flexible fish could be when she got mad, then responded.

"It was only for a little while daddy," she said. "And I'm sure no one saw me."

"It doesn't matter!" he yelled. "How could you be so treacherous! To go up to where I have told you many times not to go and on my – "

"Yes, your birthday no less," she said. "I'm sorry daddy."

He shook his head and she and Sketchy swam out to her grotto where she kept her seahorse 650 and all her human treasures. Her seahorse was the fastest in the kingdom, so after looking at all her treasures to make her feel better, she got on it and rode it all around Atlantica, letting go of her troubles. Unbeknownst to her, the sneaky Ames had followed her to her grotto in time to see all the items she had collected, then he returned back to the king to tell him the news.

* * *

Max rode along until she saw a shadow passing overhead.

_A ship,_ she realized. She rode her seahorse up and abandoned it to get closer. The sight she saw made her heart pound.

The most handsome human she had ever seen – not that she had seen many – was sitting on a barrel of rum, laughing as he watched his friends dance around. He was talking to another man equally as handsome, but the one who caught her interest was the blonde one.

His eyes were as blue as the sea on a calm day, and Max wished she could look into them for eternity. She watched as a man said something to the blonde one, then turned around and flung a drape off something underneath, which revealed a replica of the blonde one.

"For your birthday, Prince Zack," the man said proudly. "The most high blessed it himself."

_So he's a prince,_ Max thought. _He's royalty too, like me!_

Zack rubbed the back of his neck, obviously embarrassed.

"It's… great. Thanks Herbal," he said.

She watched for a while longer but felt the sea and sky change. Suddenly, storm clouds hovered over the sea, and rain pelted down, the sea suddenly becoming wild, dangerous and tumultuous. Max was thrown back into the sea from a quick lurch of the boat, and she watched as lightning struck it and one of the sails caught fire. The occupants of the ship jumped into the water and climbed onto a smaller boat, Prince Zack included, but he jumped back into the sea when he saw that his best friend, Count Zane, was still stuck on the burning ship. He climbed up the side of the boat and together they both jumped back into the sea, Zane making it safely into the boat. Unfortunately, Prince Zack was swept away by a giant wave and he hit his head on a log floating in the water, going unconscious and sinking down into the depths of the sea.

Max saw this and dove under, searching for the prince and finally spotting him. She swam over and heaved with all her might, finally gathering enough strength to pull him up to the surface. As dawn broke, she lay with him on the beach, her fins lying in the sand as the tide came in then receded. She stroked his cheek, ran her fingers through his hair.

_God, he's hot,_ she thought.

She caressed his skin, but stopped when she saw his eyes move under his lids. He was starting to wake up.

She swung her head around when she heard someone walking towards them. She looked and saw Count Zane walking around a corner.

The prince's eyes fluttered open and her head snapped back, her brown doe eyes meeting his blue ones. Scared, she immediately plunged back into the sea.

Count Zane ran over, seeing his friend lying on the sand. He helped him to his feet.

"Thank heavens you're alright. We were so worried about you," Count Zane said.

"Did you see that girl?" Zack asked deliriously. "She was so beautiful. She rescued me."

Zane laughed. "Yeah, yeah sure. A beautiful girl would jump into the sea just to save your life." He frowned. "Okay, well, maybe a girl would do that since everyone happens to fall in love with you, but I doubt she'd succeed. Besides, you're delirious man. Every guy dreams about hot like hell girls when they're delirious."

Zack shook his head. "She was real. I saw her. Maybe she was a mermaid or something. Maybe that's how she got me out."

Zane laughed. "A mermaid. Riiight. And there are goblins and fairies out there in the world. Come on buddy, I think you drank too much seawater."

Half pulling his friend along, Zane pulled Zack towards the castle.

Watching from a rock in the sea, Max's eyes took on a look of fierce determination.

_I'll be with you somehow. I need to be.

* * *

_

When she swam back down to her grotto, she found her father waiting for her.

"Father," she stammered. "What are you doing here?"

_How the hell did he find my grotto?_ she pondered. She found her answer when she saw a gleeful Ames crouching down beside Lydecker.

_Ooh. One day I'm gonna barbecue that crab and eat him._

"How do you explain this!" her father roared, pointing to the human items. "You've been going to the human world everyday, haven't you?" In fury, he blasted numerous objects, making her cry out.

"Daddy, stop it!" she screamed. But he didn't listen. He kept blasting until everything was gone. Except one thing she hadn't seen in her grotto before.

It was the statue of Prince Zack. She saw Sketchy on the corner with a sad smile on his face. So it was him who brought the statue, but now it was going to be blasted. Lydecker pointed his triton.

"Daddy! No!" she screamed, but it was too late. It exploded and he left with Ames, leaving Sketchy and Max alone.

She sobbed and out of respect, Sketchy left her alone. As she was crying, two of the evil sea witch's minions came to her.

"We can help you," hissed Normal.

"Let us bring you to the sea witch, and you'll be human. You can be with your beloved prince," said Rafer.

She hesitated, not sure whether to go or not. But she looked down at the marble face of her prince, and a voice inside said, _screw this and let's ditch the fish._

She nodded and followed the eels to the sea witch's lair.

* * *

"Wellllcooomee," the sea witch said, turning around. "My name is Renfro. Now my little friends have told me that you wish to be with a prince. A human prince."

She slithered up to Max. "Well, I love to help the poor and helpless mer-folk, so let's get down to business, shall we?"

She took out a bunch of potions and threw them into her pot. She talked to Max as she brewed.

"Now, this is all very simple. I'll make you a deal. I'll turn you into a human for three days." She turned her head to look at Max. "That's three days, got that?" She turned back. "You have that amount of time before the sun sets to get the prince to kiss you. Now it has to be the kiss of true love, you know. Passionate and all that storybook crap. If you don't, then you turn back into a mermaid and you work for me. Capisce?"

Max nodded.

"Now, all you need to do, is let me swap your eye colour for mine," Renfro said.

Max frowned, confused. "My eye colour?"

"Yes," Renfro said impatiently. "Just your eye colour. Give me your big brown doe eyes and you can have icy blue ones instead."

Max shrugged, not seeing any harm in that. Renfro grinned, then started muttering some spells. Max felt a searing pain in her fins and they split, giving her two legs. Her gills disappeared, and she felt that she couldn't breathe. She struggled to get to the surface, but luckily Sketchy had followed her, and pulled her up.

She broke through the surface, surprised to see Joshua already here.

"Hey Max," he said gruffly. "Hitchhiked here for a walk on a turtle. Hey, something's different about ya." He studied her. "You have legs." He observed them even more. "Nice legs."

Max rolled her eyes and hit him upside his dog head.

"Get me some clothes," she ordered.

Joshua ran off, tore some cloth off this thing, and ran back. She wrapped it around her like a towel.

"Well, it doesn't seem to be a lot like what they wear here, but I'll just make a new fashion trend," she said, shrugging.

She looked up when she saw Prince Zack coming. She quickly sat on a rock and he spotted her, quickly walking over.

"Hey," he said, looking her over. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah" she replied, flashing him a smile.

He studied her face. "Have we met before?"

"Yeah," she said smiling.

His eyes lit up but quickly faded when he saw the colour of her eyes.

_Hers are cold blue, not chocolate brown._

He figured he should be hospitable nevertheless and took her arm.

"Here. Let's get to my castle and we can get you cleaned up." She nodded and they walked off, Max turning her head around once to wink at Joshua and Sketchy.

When Sketchy and Joshua weren't looking, Ames climbed into Max's clothes. Oh, the king would be so pleased with him when he found out what the young princess was doing. He decided he would stay with her, gathering all the information on what she was doing before reporting to the king.

* * *

Over the next day, she made fast friends and grew closer to the prince, but it seemed like he was preoccupied with something, and she was growing more aware with each passing hour that her time with him was limited if she didn't get him to fall in love with her. She tried everything she could think of to make him like her, and it seemed like it was working because down under the sea, the sea witch was growing angry.

"Damn, stupid mermaid," Renfro mumbled. "I thought that the prince would be too hung-over that brown eyed girl to like her, but I was wrong. Stupid teenage hormones, always interfering. I can't let him kiss her or else I won't have her to use as my bargaining chip against that bastard Lydecker."

She had an idea, and muttering an incantation to turn her into a gorgeous girl with Max's eyes, she set out for land.

* * *

Ames walked the castle halls, exploring the world above to report to his king. He smelled food and his crab stomach grumbled. He scurried into the kitchen and his heart stopped.

There, inside the kitchen, was a chef gutting fish and stuffing crabs. He felt like puking at what he was seeing and the little song the chef was singing wasn't helping.

"Those little fish, they don't stand a chance, no, not against me, Chef Logan, oh, I wanna dance. I'll break their little bones, and put them in my soup, same goes for the little crabbies, no longer will they scurry around and poop," Chef Logan sang.

He stopped when he spotted Ames.

"I seem to have missed a crab," he said, and he bent down to pick Ames up, but he clamped his pincers on Chef Logan's face and he gave an outraged yell.

"Oh, I am so going to get you crab!" he yelled. He chased Ames around the kitchen with knives and everything else he had. The insane chef made quite a racket so Cindy came in and smacked him on the head.

"What the hell are you doing, you moron!" she yelled. "You're supposed to be cooking, not screwing up the damn kitchen. GET BACK TO WORK!"

Chef Logan nodded. "Yes, sorry madam. Will get right on the food, madam." She rolled her eyes and left.

* * *

"This is it," Max muttered to herself in her room. "This is my last day to get him to kiss me."

All of a sudden her door burst open and Joshua came running in.

"Congratulations," he said.

"For what?" she asked.

"Your wedding of course," he said, pointing to the newspaper he held in his hand.

Her eyes sparkled and she rushed downstairs, but stopped short when she saw her prince with another girl, strangely with the eyes she used to have.

_Renfro,_ she thought angrily. _Why that conniving little bitch._

Renfro spotted her but gave no indication of knowing her.

"Honey," she whispered to Zack, "Let's go to our room. I want to rest up before our wedding."

He nodded and under her spell, followed her.

Max's fists clenched, but her icy blue eyes sprung fire. She turned around and made plans to stop the wedding.

* * *

On the ship, the sun was close to setting. Max hid behind a counter, watching Zack stand eerily still beside Renfro while the priest read them the whole wedding spiel.

Max ran down the aisle and punched Renfro in the face. Screaming in pain, she clutched her face, but the deed was done. Their normal eye colour returned to them and Zack was released from the spell. Max turned to him and he recognized her.

"You were the one all along?" he asked.

She nodded and he pulled her in close for a kiss, but it never came. She fell down as her legs turned to fins, and the atrocious Renfro showed her real self. She grabbed Max and they plunged into the sea.

"You bitch," Max yelled, trying to pull free.

"Actually, it's more like witch," Renfro replied. They were tugging back and forth until King Lydecker showed up.

"Let her go," he said. Renfro shook her head and showed him their contract.

"I'll trade your stupid little princess for you," she proposed.

Lydecker looked at his youngest daughter and slowly, he lifted his triton to sign another contract. Max was immediately let go and her father was in chains. Renfro started getting bigger and bigger, becoming as enormous as the sea. She cackled and lifted the triton to kill Max, but Zack came shooting down through the water and knocked her out of the way. They surfaced to the top but Renfro separated them. Zack was flung into the sea but he somehow managed to grab a hold of a ship, and he plunged a beam into Renfro's side.

She screamed then died, the sea instantly calming once she was gone. Both Max and her father were free.

* * *

Max watched Zack lie on the shore from her perch on a rock, her father sadly watching. He finally realized that he had to let her go, and turned her back into a human, making her promise not to miss any more of his birthdays.

She walked onto the shore into Zack's waiting arms.

"So, is this whole evil witch after you thing over?" he asked teasingly.

"Yeah," she said, right before she kissed him.

"Marry me?" he asked, and she responded with a grin and another kiss.

* * *

Max and Zack stood on the ship, finally kissing after their "I do's", then going to the edge to say goodbye to Max's family. Max hugged and kissed each of her family members and Sketchy and Joshua.

"By the way, have you seen Ames?" Lydecker asked his daughter.

* * *

"Argh!" Ames cried as the insane Chef Logan chased him down the ship. "Get away from me you crazy lunatic! Or I'll sic my breeding crab cult friends on you!"

The End

* * *

A/N: Okay, I'm sorry if this sucked. 'Cause I know it did. It sucked realllly bad. Oh well, I tried. Read on to the next chapter to read basically the same story, except with Alec and different dialogue. Plz review this horrendous piece of material.

BTW, plz check out some GOOD stuff, my stories "Whose Love?" and "Together We'll Fight" You might also want to read the first two parts of this Fairy Tale series. –aod78


	2. Prince Alec

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing. Everyone belongs to the guy with the sunken ship and the other guy.

A/N: This is the third installment of the Fairy Tales series. I really hope you like it. Plz review and if you have time, check out the other stories in this series. If you have lots of time, check out my other stories, I'm sure you'll like them. This will be written twice, the first time MZ and the second time MA. It will be overall the same thing twice, except that certain parts will be different because of the character. For example, the MA one will be a little more witty and sarcastic because of Alec. So some parts will be changed. Okay, happy reading. Plz review!

* * *

Once upon a time, there were 7 mermaid princesses, living in their palace under the sea with their father, King Lydecker, who despite his bad temper and mean habits, loved his daughters dearly.

Princess Syl was very bubbly and tried to make a good time out of everything. She loved reading in her coral bed, but she'd always put aside her books to spend time with the handsome Prince Krit of the Pacific.

Princess Brin was very quiet and kept to herself. She focused mainly on improving her knowledge of the sea she lived in, and how to brave the dangers in it.

Princess Tinga was known to be very motherly to everyone, treating everyone equally with kindness and respect. She took care of her sisters and guarded them.

Princess Eva was known to be one of the toughest mermaids in the sea. Despite her reputation to be stern, there were rare moments when she let herself go and relax, though her attitude could change drastically when protecting her sisters.

Princess Jace was very observing and liked to get to know people, not always because she wanted to be friends with them, but because she wanted to be able to know how to handle them if the need should arise.

Princess Jondy had a temper as fiery as her red hair, and a mischievous personality to go along with it. She loved pulling pranks and antagonizing people, especially with her youngest sister.

Princess Max, whom her sisters called Maxie, was very much like her sister Jondy. She had sass, an attitude, and a sense of humour that had people roaring with laughter. But unlike the others, she had a craving to know what the world above the sea was like. She wanted to know what they did, and why they did it, why they had two legs in replace of fins. She ventured in sunken ships, searching for items from the world she could never live in. She made sure to keep her little expeditions from her father though, for she knew that he'd be furious if he ever found out. Only with her best friend, the fish Sketchy, did she ever share her findings.

That was what she and Sketchy were doing now. Or more correctly, she was swimming around in a ship, inspecting every nook and cranny for something that she might find interesting, while Sketchy shivered (if fish could shiver) in fear as he waited in front of the ship. On the lookout for… sharks.

"Uh… Max? Could we uh… go?" Sketchy stuttered. "I don't really think we should be here. I mean… it's cold, and dark, and a… argh! Argh! Shark!"

He turned around and shoved himself through a hole in the ship, swimming like crazy towards Max while a humongous shark crashed through the ship after him.

"Shark!" he yelled. "Shark on the loose! Shark on the loose! Oh, this is it. I'm gonna die. I'm never gonna make it to my job interview at Jam Pony water express," he sobbed.

Max looked up, seeing Sketchy racing at her at top speed with a crazed look on his face, a hungry-looking shark trailing not far behind. She shoved what she had found – a strange-looking rectangular thing – into her bag and quickly swam up the ship, motioning for Sketchy to follow her. He did so, and after a while of being chased through the ship, they burst out into the open sea and swam upwards.

Sketchy looked himself over, making sure all his fins were intact, then he relaxed.

"Ha!" he said. "That was fun! I mean, that stupid shark never stood a chance. I probably could've taken him on. No biggie. I might've gone down defending your honour… eventually."

Max rolled her eyes but said nothing as they broke the surface to see their friend the dog, Joshua. Joshua had been stranded at sea a long time ago but had found himself on this little piece of land and made it his home. He was quite content where he was considering he was kind of an oddball.

"Hey Max," he said in greeting. "Sketchy."

"Josh, you think you could tell me what this is?" Max asked excitedly. She pulled out the article she had found in the ship and he took it in his dog paws.

"Hmm," he said, and scratched his head, from pondering or from fleas she wasn't sure. "Looks like this is what the humans call a cellyphone. See these little buttons here? They're used to play music. Listen."

He pressed a bunch of buttons and beeping noises were made.

"Crummy song," Joshua muttered.

Max winced. "Music," she said. "I completely forgot about daddy's birthday concert!"

She quickly grabbed the cellyphone from Joshua's paws and with a quick thanks, she dove down, the water rippling as she left.

* * *

King Lydecker sat on his throne with his royal crab advisor, Ames, pacing back and forth, muttering something about killing the stupid impulsive princess when she got back. Finally, Princess Max swam into her father's chamber with Sketchy, both their heads down.

"Where have you been?" King Lydecker shouted, outraged.

"I'm sorry I forgot about the concert, father," Max murmured.

"Forgot? You forgot? Your own daddy's birthday? Am I not important enough to you for you to remember my birthday? I mean, it's my birthday! _My_ birthday! The King's – "

"I think she gets the point, Sire," Ames said.

The King toned down the conceitedness a little. "Right. Well, I'm disappointed in you for forgetting my birthday. Anyways, where have you been while forgetting my birthday?"

_If he says 'my birthday' one more time I'm gonna kick his fishy blue ass!_ Max thought. _What am I supposed to say though? I can't let him know I've been up to the surface._

Unfortunately for her Sketchy, without thinking, decided to tell their little adventure. Right from the shark attack until they decided to go see the stranded dog, Joshua. At that, Lydecker's eyes grew wide.

"Stranded dog?" he asked in an infuriated little whisper. "Dog, as in an animal that lives up in the HUMAN WORLD?" His voice raised at the end.

Max quickly glared at Sketchy, mentally promising that she would show him just how flexible fish could be when she got mad, then responded.

"It was only for a little while daddy," she said. "And I'm sure no one saw me."

"It doesn't matter!" he yelled. "How could you be so treacherous! To go up to where I have told you many times not to go and on my – "

"Yes, your birthday no less," she said. "I'm sorry daddy."

He shook his head and she and Sketchy swam out to her grotto where she kept her seahorse 650 and all her human treasures. Her seahorse was the fastest in the kingdom, so after looking at all her treasures to make her feel better, she got on it and rode it all around Atlantica, letting go of her troubles. Unbeknownst to her, the sneaky Ames had followed her to her grotto in time to see all the items she had collected, then he returned back to the king to tell him the news.

* * *

Max rode along until she saw a shadow passing overhead.

_A ship,_ she realized. She rode her seahorse up and abandoned it to get closer. The sight she saw made her heart pound.

The most handsome human she had ever seen – not that she had seen many – was sitting on a barrel of rum, laughing as he watched his friends dance around. He was talking to another man equally as handsome, but the one who caught her interest was the blonde one.

His eyes were as hazel as the sea corals, and Max wished she could look into them for eternity. She watched as a man said something to the blonde one, then turned around and flung a drape off something underneath, which revealed a replica of the blonde one.

"For your birthday, Prince Alec," the man said proudly. "The most high blessed it himself."

_So he's a prince,_ Max thought. _He's royalty too, like me!_

Alec rubbed the back of his neck, obviously embarrassed.

"It's… great. Thanks Herbal," he said.

"Yeah," his friend joked. "So now you can increase his ego of how handsome he thinks he is."

She watched for a while longer but felt the sea and sky change. Suddenly, storm clouds hovered over the sea, and rain pelted down, the sea suddenly becoming wild, dangerous and tumultuous. Max was thrown back into the sea from a quick lurch of the boat, and she watched as lightning struck it and one of the sails caught fire. The occupants of the ship jumped into the water and climbed onto a smaller boat, Prince Alec included, but he jumped back into the sea when he saw that his best friend, Count Biggs, was still stuck on the burning ship. He climbed up the side of the boat and together they both jumped back into the sea, Biggs making it safely into the boat. Unfortunately, Prince Alec was swept away by a giant wave and he hit his head on a log floating in the water, going unconscious and sinking down into the depths of the sea.

Max saw this and dove under, searching for the prince and finally spotting him. She swam over and heaved with all her might, finally gathering enough strength to pull him up to the surface. As dawn broke, she lay with him on the beach, her fins lying in the sand as the tide came in then receded. She stroked his cheek, ran her fingers through his hair.

_God, he's hot,_ she thought.

She caressed his skin, but stopped when she saw his eyes move under his lids. He was starting to wake up.

She swung her head around when she heard someone walking towards them. She looked and saw Count Biggs walking around a corner.

The prince's eyes fluttered open and her head snapped back, her brown doe eyes meeting his hazel ones. Scared, she immediately plunged back into the sea.

Count Biggs ran over, seeing his friend lying on the sand. He helped him to his feet.

"Thank heavens you're alright. We were so worried about you," Count Biggs said.

"Did you see that girl?" Alec asked deliriously. "She was hot as hell. She rescued me."

Biggs laughed. "Yeah, yeah sure. A beautiful girl would jump into the sea just to save your life." He frowned. "Okay, well, maybe a girl would do that since everyone happens to fall in love with you, but I doubt she'd succeed. Besides, you're delirious man. Every guy dreams about hot like hell girls when they're delirious."

Alec shook his head. "She was real. I saw her. Maybe she was a mermaid or something. Maybe that's how she got me out. I should really thank her. You know, give her a kiss… or something else."

Biggs laughed. "A mermaid. Riiight. And there are goblins and fairies out there in the world. Come on buddy, I think you drank too much seawater."

Half pulling his friend along, Biggs pulled Alec towards the castle.

Watching from a rock in the sea, Max's eyes took on a look of fierce determination.

_I'll be with you somehow. I need to be.

* * *

_

When she swam back down to her grotto, she found her father waiting for her.

"Father," she stammered. "What are you doing here?"

_How the hell did he find my grotto?_ she pondered. She found her answer when she saw a gleeful Ames crouching down beside Lydecker.

_Ooh. One day I'm gonna barbecue that crab and eat him._

"How do you explain this!" her father roared, pointing to the human items. "You've been going to the human world everyday, haven't you?" In fury, he blasted numerous objects, making her cry out.

"Daddy, stop it!" she screamed. But he didn't listen. He kept blasting until everything was gone. Except one thing she hadn't seen in her grotto before.

It was the statue of Prince Alec. She saw Sketchy on the corner with a sad smile on his face. So it was him who brought the statue, but now it was going to be blasted. Lydecker pointed his triton.

"Daddy! No!" she screamed, but it was too late. It exploded and he left with Ames, leaving Sketchy and Max alone.

She sobbed and out of respect, Sketchy left her alone. As she was crying, two of the evil sea witch's minions came to her.

"We can help you," hissed Normal.

"Let us bring you to the sea witch, and you'll be human. You can be with your beloved prince," said Rafer.

She hesitated, not sure whether to go or not. But she looked down at the marble face of her prince, and a voice inside said, _screw this and let's ditch the fish._

She nodded and followed the eels to the sea witch's lair.

* * *

"Wellllcooomee," the sea witch said, turning around. "My name is Renfro. Now my little friends have told me that you wish to be with a prince. A human prince."

She slithered up to Max. "Well, I love to help the poor and helpless mer-folk, so let's get down to business, shall we?"

She took out a bunch of potions and threw them into her pot. She talked to Max as she brewed.

"Now, this is all very simple. I'll make you a deal. I'll turn you into a human for three days." She turned her head to look at Max. "That's three days, got that?" She turned back. "You have that amount of time before the sun sets to get the prince to kiss you. Now it has to be the kiss of true love, you know. Passionate and all that storybook crap. If you don't, then you turn back into a mermaid and you work for me. Capisce?"

Max nodded.

"Now, all you need to do, is let me swap your eye colour for mine," Renfro said.

Max frowned, confused. "My eye colour?"

"Yes," Renfro said impatiently. "Just your eye colour. Give me your big brown doe eyes and you can have icy blue ones instead."

Max shrugged, not seeing any harm in that. Renfro grinned, then started muttering some spells. Max felt a searing pain in her fins and they split, giving her two legs. Her gills disappeared, and she felt that she couldn't breathe. She struggled to get to the surface, but luckily Sketchy had followed her, and pulled her up.

She broke through the surface, surprised to see Joshua already here.

"Hey Max," he said gruffly. "Hitchhiked here for a walk on a turtle. Hey, something's different about ya." He studied her. "You have legs." He observed them even more. "Nice legs."

Max rolled her eyes and hit him upside his dog head.

"Get me some clothes," she ordered.

Joshua ran off, tore some cloth off this thing, and ran back. She wrapped it around her like a towel.

"Well, it doesn't seem to be a lot like what they wear here, but I'll just make a new fashion trend," she said, shrugging.

She looked up when she saw Prince Alec coming. She quickly sat on a rock and he spotted her, quickly walking over.

_Whoa, a girl wrapped in only a towel. Must be my lucky day._

"Hey," he said, looking her over. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah" she replied, flashing him a smile.

He studied her face. "Have we met before?"

"Yeah," she said smiling.

His eyes lit up but quickly faded when he saw the colour of her eyes.

_Hers are cold blue, not chocolate brown._

He figured she was gorgeous nevertheless and took her arm.

"Here. Let's get to my castle and we can get you cleaned up." She nodded and they walked off, Max turning her head around once to wink at Joshua and Sketchy.

When Sketchy and Joshua weren't looking, Ames climbed into Max's clothes. Oh, the king would be so pleased with him when he found out what the young princess was doing. He decided he would stay with her, gathering all the information on what she was doing before reporting to the king.

* * *

Over the next day, she made fast friends and grew closer to the prince, but it seemed like he was preoccupied with something, and she was growing more aware with each passing hour that her time with him was limited if she didn't get him to fall in love with her. She tried everything she could think of to make him like her, and it seemed like it was working because down under the sea, the sea witch was growing angry.

"Damn, stupid mermaid," Renfro mumbled. "I thought that the prince would be too hung-over that brown eyed girl to like her, but I was wrong. Stupid teenage hormones, always interfering. I can't let him kiss her or else I won't have her to use as my bargaining chip against that bastard Lydecker."

She had an idea, and muttering an incantation to turn her into a gorgeous girl with Max's eyes, she set out for land.

* * *

Ames walked the castle halls, exploring the world above to report to his king. He smelled food and his crab stomach grumbled. He scurried into the kitchen and his heart stopped.

There, inside the kitchen, was a chef gutting fish and stuffing crabs. He felt like puking at what he was seeing and the little song the chef was singing wasn't helping.

"Those little fish, they don't stand a chance, no, not against me, Chef Logan, oh, I wanna dance. I'll break their little bones, and put them in my soup, same goes for the little crabbies, no longer will they scurry around and poop," Chef Logan sang.

He stopped when he spotted Ames.

"I seem to have missed a crab," he said, and he bent down to pick Ames up, but he clamped his pincers on Chef Logan's face and he gave an outraged yell.

"Oh, I am so going to get you crab!" he yelled. He chased Ames around the kitchen with knives and everything else he had. The insane chef made quite a racket so Cindy came in and smacked him on the head.

"What the hell are you doing, you moron!" she yelled. "You're supposed to be cooking, not screwing up the damn kitchen. GET BACK TO WORK!"

Chef Logan nodded. "Yes, sorry madam. Will get right on the food, madam." She rolled her eyes and left.

* * *

"This is it," Max muttered to herself in her room. "This is my last day to get him to kiss me."

All of a sudden her door burst open and Joshua came running in.

"Congratulations," he said.

"For what?" she asked.

"Your wedding of course," he said, pointing to the newspaper he held in his hand.

Her eyes sparkled and she rushed downstairs, but stopped short when she saw her prince with another girl, strangely with the eyes she used to have.

_Renfro,_ she thought angrily. _Why that conniving little bitch._

Renfro spotted her but gave no indication of knowing her.

"Honey," she whispered to Alec, "Let's go to our room. I want to rest up before our wedding."

He nodded and under her spell, followed her.

Max's fists clenched, but her icy blue eyes sprung fire. She turned around and made plans to stop the wedding.

* * *

On the ship, the sun was close to setting. Max hid behind a counter, watching Alec stand eerily still beside Renfro while the priest read them the whole wedding spiel.

Max ran down the aisle and punched Renfro in the face. Screaming in pain, she clutched her face, but the deed was done. Their normal eye colour returned to them and Alec was released from the spell. Max turned to him and he recognized her.

"You were the one all along?" he asked.

She nodded and he pulled her in close for a kiss, but it never came. She fell down as her legs turned to fins, and the atrocious Renfro showed her real self. She grabbed Max and they plunged into the sea.

"You bitch," Max yelled, trying to pull free.

"Actually, it's more like witch," Renfro replied. They were tugging back and forth until King Lydecker showed up.

"Let her go," he said. Renfro shook her head and showed him their contract.

"I'll trade your stupid little princess for you," she proposed.

Lydecker looked at his youngest daughter and slowly, he lifted his triton to sign another contract. Max was immediately let go and her father was in chains. Renfro started getting bigger and bigger, becoming as enormous as the sea. She cackled and lifted the triton to kill Max, but Alec came shooting down through the water and knocked her out of the way. They surfaced to the top but Renfro separated them. Alec was flung into the sea but he somehow managed to grab a hold of a ship, and he plunged a beam into Renfro's side.

She screamed then died, the sea instantly calming once she was gone. Both Max and her father were free.

* * *

Max watched Alec lie on the shore from her perch on a rock, her father sadly watching. He finally realized that he had to let her go, and turned her back into a human, making her promise not to miss any more of his birthdays.

She walked onto the shore into Alec's waiting arms.

"So, is this whole evil witch after you thing over?" he asked teasingly.

"Yeah," she said, right before she kissed him.

"Marry me?" he asked, and she responded with a grin and another kiss.

He looked at her. "Not that I'm complaining, but I kinda wish you were wrapped up in only a towel again."

That earned him a smack on the head.

* * *

Max and Alec stood on the ship, finally kissing after their "I do's", then going to the edge to say goodbye to Max's family. Max hugged and kissed each of her family members and Sketchy and Joshua.

"By the way, have you seen Ames?" Lydecker asked his daughter.

* * *

"Argh!" Ames cried as the insane Chef Logan chased him down the ship. "Get away from me you crazy lunatic! Or I'll sic my breeding crab cult friends on you!"

The End

* * *

A/N: Okay, I'm sorry if this sucked. 'Cause I know it did. It sucked realllly bad. Oh well, I tried. Plz review this horrendous piece of material.

BTW, plz check out some GOOD stuff, my stories "Whose Love?" and "Together We'll Fight" You might also want to read the first two parts of this Fairy Tale series. –aod78


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